Chaldea and the Chaldeans
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Jer. 1:10; Job 1:17, and elsewhere)—in their narrower historical sense, a people and region of southern Mesopotamia near the head of the Persian Gulf. Chaldean dynasties became prominent in Babylonia, and under Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II the term could designate the Neo-Babylonian ruling power. Biblical writers therefore often use “Chaldeans” for the Babylonians who conquered Jerusalem, while Daniel also uses the term for a class of learned diviners or astrologers.